


Take Note

by cymk_8



Category: K/DA - Fandom, League of Legends
Genre: "its about the nuanced characterization", Alternate Universe - Academia, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - K/DA (League of Legends), Alternate Universe - Professors, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Femslash, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Slice of Life, Slow Build, Slow Burn, also this is all about women loving and supporting each other, but in their own ways, it'll work itself out, the angst is there but really it's just real life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-14 19:21:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29796672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cymk_8/pseuds/cymk_8
Summary: You might be immortal, but if you can’t do a proper citation, that means jack-all in the world of academia. No one’s gonna listen to you, even if you scream at the top of your lungs. So it begins, from the ground up.There’s a saying amongst academics: “Write something now and maybe it’ll matter 70 years later.”And today, Ahri will pick up a pen and write.
Relationships: Ahri/Akali (League of Legends), Ahri/Akali/Evelynn/Kai'Sa (League of Legends), Ahri/Evelynn (League of Legends), Ahri/Kai'Sa (League of Legends), Akali/Evelynn (League of Legends), Akali/Kai'Sa (League of Legends), Evelynn/Kai'Sa (League of Legends)
Comments: 19
Kudos: 95





	1. Chapter 1

_It’s a start._

The house Ahri comes home to is empty and dark. There’s not much there, just piles of paper scattered all over amongst coffee mugs long since abandoned. You’d think after a millennia or so of living she’d have found a better organization system but, eh. Piles work just fine. Normally, it would be the start of another long, coffee-scented night amongst the long-winded articles, half-baked notes and proposals, and a frankly _ungodly_ amount of ungraded student papers…But tonight. Tonight the press of deadlines can’t touch her because in her hands was now the _official_ document outlining her position as the new Assistant Professor of Linguistics at Targon University.

Dropping her bags, she zips through the tiny apartment and giddily flings her bedroom door open. A few quick spins on her desk chair later and she settles at the desktop in the corner of her room, firing it up and immediately calling her best friend. Evelynn was a terrifying woman, off doing terrifying business for a case out in a place that _really_ doesn’t matter right now because as soon as Eve picks up:

“I got it.”

It takes a moment for the other woman to process what Ahri says. Possibly because of the unhinged expression being broadcasted through the screen. But a smile slowly unfurls across Evelynn’s face and she beams right back at her, eyes glowing with pride.

“So it seems the pathetic oompa loompas that make up our board finally saw the jewel hanging right in front of them,” she quips. “And here I was thinking I’d have to give them another…nudge in the right direction.”

"Eve we talked about this –“

“Save it, sweetheart. We can talk about your _precious_ ethics against my _absolutely warranted_ gesture of good faith some other time. For now, tell me what you’re wearing.”

“We’re in a video call.”

“And I can see you’re still in that get-up and not out _painting the town red_ like you should be.”

Her ears flick in annoyance. She’s right and Ahri hates it. Hates that she can’t go out anymore because someone’s bound to recognize her, what with her fox ears and all. The unfortunate truth is that she’s always just one …Vine? TikTok? Away from getting a bad rep and she’s not about to shred her brand new career for that. She’d put on a wig, but that would be a new low.

“You know I can’t right?”

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean I won’t encourage it.”

A sigh escapes blood red lips. “Ahri, love, I know what it’s like – but you have got to at least do something.”

The conversation moves on late into the night as Eve and her play catch-up, and that something ends up being an entire bottle of wine down Ahri’s throat. Even Evelynn seems impressed. _Nice_. Eventually though, the time zones force Eve to take her leave. They were working women after all.

“Try not to scalp someone until I touch down next week,” are Eve’s parting words.

The call disconnects and Ahri is left to the familiar dim lighting of her room.

Wine-drunk she wanders around her space, ears and tail limp from the relaxation that washes over her. She really can’t believe it. There’s still all of those papers to grade and dishes to clean but. Staring at the paper in her hands, she finally has it. A voice, a foothold, however small it might be.

A flash of something dances across her vision, kind words and a soft touch from a friend long gone. They might’ve been proud. That or telling her to get her shit together. Her buzzed mind can’t really do the translating. Still, her hand reaches out, finds a pen and writes it down on a post-it. She really shouldn’t be this excited – official or not, it’s just another slip of paper and lord knows her apartment is already covered in that.

But.

_It’s a start._

* * *

There might have been a little bit of regret the morning after. Head throbbing and eyes overly sensitive to the light peeking through her window, Ahri shuffles to the kitchenette and sticks the pitcher under the coffee maker. The scent of the coffee is overwhelming and makes her queasy, but she knows she needs it – especially if she wants to survive today. A quick look at the clock and a groan escapes her lips. _FUCK_ it’s early. Why was she up?

A bubble of joy erupts from somewhere in the back of her mind and her eyes fly wide open. Its real. It’s on her desk. _HOLY FUCK it’s real_.

The coffee maker makes a gurgle. Ah. The papers she didn’t grade are still, just as real.

Coffee in hand, Ahri moves back to her room to groom her ears and tail. She could glamour them of course, but the extra five minutes of brushing that it takes until her fur naturally shines is worth it. Gumiho are an old species and it’s with pride that she bears them. It’s extra worth it knowing how far she made it while never compromising that, she thinks with a smile.

Magic had often commanded respect in the past. The sort of deference that comes with respecting a force of nature. But as the years wore on and the human world slowly bridged the gap between magic and science, that respect warped and distorted into something disgusting. It wasn’t that magic and those that had it died out. They were cast out. “De-humanized” you could call it (Eve preferred demonized, but not everyone fell into that category). But that would make human the standard…and that was the whole problem…Ahri hums to herself. Humiliated wasn’t the right word either…she could look into that for a topic to lecture on…she could see the title – “the structure, function, and evolution of non-committal sounds into derogatory language”…actually, what did lead to that word getting popular – perhaps…

Ahri rubs at her eyes and works through a knot in her tail in annoyance. It was too early to run through this now familiar debate with herself. Prejudice can wait five fucking minutes.

Speaking of, if there was anything that really needed to wait five minutes, it would be the goddamn train. Ahri raced forward, toting several books in her bag and catching papers as they flew out. Thank the gods for her gumiho reflexes. Reflexes that just barely had her tail through the threshold as the doors slid to a close. This was her least favorite part of the day and judging by the emotions that flitted through her senses, everyone in the train car agreed. Yeah, it would sure be convenient to live near campus. But the rent was worlds cheaper where she lived now and the air wasn’t constantly saturated with anxiety, lust (ew), and despair. College students really were something else in the emotions department. She didn’t need them to add to her own. And…how were they referring to it now? “Gays who can’t drive”? Yeah, she fell right into that category.

So here she stands, amongst the sea of bodies, barely afforded personal space. At least people knew the absolute disrespect that came with touching another species’ body parts. Still, she curled her tail as close to her body as she could, ears flat as to shield from the worst of the creaking of the train. Each stop let her breathe a little easier as people filtered through. In and out, in and out, like the steady beat of a drum. When the train finally cleared enough for her to snag a seat, her body caved and she slumped into the grimy window. She’d done it enough to know that she would wake just in time. 

A familiar voice signals her stop and Ahri moves in a stupor. Rude. Just when she was about to enter one of her memories. But the sun was shining and today, she was now _an assistant professor_. It couldn’t be that bad.

* * *

Unfortunately. She was just an assistant professor.

“Congratulations!” _How fake. Did they forget that I could sense their emotions_? “Are you sure you can handle it? Man, it’s gonna be a lot of work from here on out,” He says with a low whistle.

 _Why yes, it sure will be, yes, thank you._ With a strained smile plastered onto her face, Ahri wordlessly nodded and went back to nursing her third cup of coffee today.

“I think I might be next! I mean, my work practically speaks for itself” _Man he really wasn’t going to stop today huh._

Oh, how she wished to just charm the man and lead him away from her. But that would also be unethical, she muses. _Ethics_ … _A quality this man obviously didn’t have when he shamelessly stole some of my lecture prep to use as his own_. _That was a fucking week’s worth of work down the drain! God I can’t believe I had to avoid plagiarizing_ ** _myself_** _. Your work MY fucking ASS._

She came to this secluded section of campus for a reason, a reason that remained unlit in her back pocket, much to her annoyance. Why was he here again? Right. Posturing. _I suppose all people get their kicks somehow._ The mental image of kicking him entered her view. _That, I could get behind._

She flicks her wrist, deliberately showing her “watch.” A warning. Gumiho had gotten with the times and developed ways of feeding using tech like hers. Small devices that harmlessly converted ambient emotional energy into food. But their past reputation precedes them. The man winces and it’s all Ahri can do not to smirk.

“Sorry, it seems I might be running a bit low,” she turns to her colleague, “I’m going to _let you go_ , and let’s continue this some other time yeah?”

And with that she heads back to the main grounds. Eve would’ve been proud of that one, she’s sure. Ok Eve would have docked some points for “lack of subtlety.” Fifteen minutes. She has fifteen minutes until another damn faculty meeting, but you know what? She signed up for this ( _assistant professor_ and all that). Ahri lets out a long exhale.

Fifteen – her feet automatically shuttle her off to another one of her secret haunts and she quickly reaches into her back pocket. Not gonna risk it this time.

Thankfully, she doesn’t get bothered again and she enters the faculty meeting in a slightly less ticked off mood. She forces her ears and tail to perk up though. It’s one of those faculty meetings they hold in the middle of the first quarter to “check up on the well-being of the staff.” They run a small presentation on the direction of the rest of the year, how things are going, changes they’d like to introduce, student ratings...important, but not at all related to the mountain of work she has to get through by the end of the day. There’s a few new faces, a lot of them chatting and networking with a vengeance. Figures. At least Ahri can finally stop doing that because of her new position. There was this one tall woman in the corner, silently watching over everything with a peculiar expression. Guarded? Curious? Meh. Ahri feels sorry for some of the chattier hires – hopefully they weren’t all pity hires for _“diversity.”_ God that was a horrible thing to even think about, but it’s true. She half wonders if she was one of those.

It’s off to the races after that. The day passes in a blur of lecture prep, actual lecture, answering questions, office hours. A nice chat with Akali, bless her soul. More coffee…she would drink something else but it’s a bit too early to spike her cup (even for her).

“How about water,” Akali says.

“How about you grade my papers?”

Touché. It’s a win in Ahri’s book. She makes no comment when she finds one of those tiny bottles of water in her bag a few hours later. Bless her soul indeed.

She gets home, naps, and gets ready to do it all over again. _Assistant professor_. Fuck. Indeed she was.

* * *

It’s slightly annoying how absolutely normal everything stays. The train runs, she runs, and her lectures are still just as exhausting and irrelevant to her research as they were before. It’s only been a week. Yikes.

The high of _assistant professor_ quickly dissolves into _oh God now how do I get tenured_. She’s stuck. Well, stuck in a better place, but still. She’s stuck. Her head rests on the cool surface of the whiteboard in her office as she goes through the list of things she _needs_ to do to get noticed. Run a committee. Write an article. Maybe two. Who knows. Get them published. What was that one project she abandoned? Have to finish that one too. Hmm. Do a talk…but when? Something else…?

Ahri’s mind goes utterly blank until she notices a shock of pink hair entering her peripheral vision.

“Oh! I thought I might find you here!”

Ahri is about to snap, tail beginning to bristle – because _Yes, it’s her office, where else would she_ **_be_ ** _._ But no. It’s the familiar sight of the current light of her life, Seraphine.

“Uh. You have…” Seraphine points to her forehead.

Of course she did. Ahri wipes at her forehead without much grace as Seraphine just smirks and continues.

“I’ve double-checked some of the sources on these papers. A few think they’re slick, but the rest are golden. Well. Not the most…golden content but there are a few jewels here and there…”

Ah…her beloved TA, untarnished and always on the bright side. It’s a bit scary, all things considered, but it’s a quality that Ahri can’t help but celebrate and encourage. The world would definitely be a more abysmal place without people like her.

“…Though a few _did_ cite Wikipedia,” A bell-like chuckle. “One student actually made quite the argument about the legitimacy of information and how, in this day and age, Wikipedia is nearly as reliable as any other source. ‘Treat it with respect for the actual locus of knowledge it is.’ And, I gotta say, they’re kinda right…if only they spent some of that energy on the actual paper…”

“Oh, but I’m rambling, sorry – they’re done!”

Ahri blinks slowly. God bless her. She really did put the Sera in sera-tonin. Wait.

“You cut your hair! It looks great.” Ahri takes a moment to figure out if it’s been like that for a while, hoping she didn’t straight up miss that in the last week. It’s quite the change too – from nearly waist long pink hair to a sharp pixie. She looks older. The slight flush on Seraphine’s cheeks is encouraging.

“Thank you! It was honestly getting in the way, and you know what it’s like. It’s getting to be that time where I need to be taken seriously…”

“Well, I’m glad you kept it pink.” And Ahri is. She remembers the nights with Akali when she first started, complaining over shitty beer about how _God she’s pulled out all stops and done all the work, why wasn’t she getting in?_ Akali looked her dead in the eye and told her that she looked too good. Normally, that would’ve been a compliment. But looks were a double-edged sword in this line of work. Bat your eyes and you can get a lot of favors, get to places faster than you could otherwise. That is, until some people start saying that that was all you could do.

She cut her hair herself that morning.

It wasn’t her best work, obviously, because Eve took one look at her and immediately took her to a salon. But Eve’s eyes were hardened steel and her grip tense. Ahri had loved her long hair for the better part of a century. Eve loved it too. But they knew.

Seraphine’s face began to fall slightly, and Ahri was definitely not having that today. No one else needed to be tired other than her – she’s had hundreds of years of practice and this kid still had the rest of her life.

“Hey – I did take a look at your abstract the other day. It’s brilliant stuff. There’s a few changes I’d like to discuss with you, but otherwise? I think you’ve set up really solid scaffolding. Not to toot my own horn here, but it’s looking like a paper even I would like to read.”

There’s a small smile and Ahri is relieved.

“Sweet! Thank you so much – I think you’ve just lit a fire under my ass, so I’ll be off then. Ah. I’ll run interference, professor Kick-His-Face-In is coming in hot.”

Ahri chuckles. “If I could, I’d have given you your PhD just for that.”

She’s just about to go back to moping when she hears another set of footsteps approaching. Oh no, Sera’s interference didn’t work – but only smooth and sleek greets her. Eve.

“How’s our new resident _assistant professor_ doing?” There’s clearly something behind those eyes. “Emphasis on _ass_.” There it is.

“Tired as fuck, now hurry up and close the door, you-know-who is around the corner.”

“If I didn’t know you better, I’d have thought you were asking for a quickie.” Eve stretches out like a cat on the little couch she managed to fit into her office.

“Been there,” Ahri rakes her eyes over Eve’s lithe form in faux interest, “ _Done THAT_.”

“And the fangs are out so soon. Though really. Tell me how you’ve been, the bags under your eyes are so big they might as well be Gucci. And while I love my Gucci, I can’t say I love that for _you_.”

Ahri squirms in her seat. Eve’s right again. For a demon, she really did do a lot more to care for her than herself sometimes. Her eyes dart to her empty mug and an even emptier coffee machine. Fatal mistake.

“Oh honey. No.” She sniffs. “Oh my god I can even smell instant coffee. You are definitely not good.”

Ahri winces and a whine escapes lips – _desperate times, desperate measures_? She braces for the inevitable. Instead, Eve just stares, a small groove forming in between her eyebrows.

“Alright, I won’t push. But what’s the use of that title if you can’t even make it past the week?... Hello?”

The week. Yeah. Wait. Only a week, holy shit it’s only been a week. Oh dear. There’s so much to do and none of it has been done yet, let alone started. Oh. Oh…oh no. Are all weeks gonna be like this? Well. Nothing tragically new has really happened and yet _everything has happened_. Who the hell made the term week? When did we all collectively decide it was 7 days…days…as a concept…hmm –

“…Hello?” Right. Who…? There’s a flash of something and Ahri panics because the next moment, it’s gone. A hand rests on hers and she starts. She looks from her desk and the couch is empty. _Eve_ the warmth on her shoulder reminds her. Eve is still there. Good. She takes a pen out and jots something down on a post-it. Safe.

There’s a tense look in Eve’s eyes, even as clawed hands gently card through her short hair, delicately scratching the base of her ears.

“Are you done for the day?” The words are uncharacteristically soft, and Ahri feels bad. It’s not humiliating, no. But Evelynn has always been sharp. Sharp voice, sharper claws. She is a demon after all. It was simply against her nature to handle things with care – but here she was.

“Yeah.” It’s a lie, but suddenly she feels all of her momentum slam against a wall and the weight of the day sinks into her.

“Let’s go home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Feel free to comment :)
> 
> This fic is the driving force behind the KDA Academia AU that I originally posted on twitter - and, to quote the ladies, Know I've got it, so here you GO.
> 
> I post art and updates about this AU on Twitter @ CYMK_8. Until next time!


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A character enters from stage left.

Scandalous. The implications of seeing the two most openly queer women in faculty exiting a locked office and then hurriedly rushing into a car would usually be absolutely scandalous. Not to mention bad PR (if you could call it that) and naturally, something that Ahri would love to avoid. But she was TIRED. She would even try to add the ™ superscript in her head, but she can’t even think about the right key combination and you can’t exactly copy and paste things from Google directly into your thoughts. At least Eve’s glare was quite the effective shield.

“There’s a new takeout place in town.” No room for questioning there. Ahri chuckles lightly, eyes closed and head resting on the cool of her friend’s expensive car window. A Lambo at a McDonalds. Incredible.

“Ok.”

“I’m thinking fried chicken and greasy as hell burgers. Want a soda?”

A soda appears in her hand a few moments later and she takes a sip. She’s tired. 

It’s so damn bright. But she can feel the grass underneath her skin and there’s a smell of a dish that time has forgotten – that _she_ had almost forgotten. And suddenly she’s ok with the sun. Someone calls out to her and she grunts out a response, getting words ready to thank the cook. Ahri pushes up and her hand is met with soft leather. Oh. She reaches for a pen that’s not there.

“You fell asleep halfway through a chicken wing, if you were wondering.” A fancy teacup slides into her view and she accepts it without thought.

“And before you panic, yesterday was Friday, today is Saturday, and your schedule is currently free. Well. The next two days aren’t as colorful as the rest of your calendar – which, by the way, is giving the pride flag a run for its money.” A few clicks, a swipe, and Eve sets Ahri’s phone down.

“Another memory?”

Ahri nods. A deep, yawning silence stretches between them.

“Do you think I’ll be too late?” Ahri asks, just as she’s asked a hundred times before. She shrinks into herself, tail tucked and ears flat, the burning feeling of the too-warm teacup her anchor. She wants a pen. When she’s met with silence, she looks up at Eve.

There’s a moment of search and then, an understanding. Eve says nothing back.

* * *

An all-out blitz. There truly is nothing more appropriate to describe Ahri’s new work schedule. As if she wasn’t already, she pulled on everything she had and threw herself into her work. Eve would have probably strangled her by now, but Eve also had shit to do – another high-profile case across the country. They were both in the same, dingy, unfortunate boat. A committee needed a head? She volunteered. There was a student that needed mentoring? Sign her up. Fuck it. Let her be the damn substitute lecturer for a sick colleague (that time, she _really_ did want to kick his face in). Anything and everything was fair game. She will make it impossible for the board not to see her, impossible for them not to see the value of her contributions. And she still needed to teach that damn survey class. She didn’t want the extra work. Absolutely not – who doesn’t just want to sit and vegetate for a while. But it’s all a game and to win, you needed to lay the groundwork. Nothing else to it

A month of this and Akali is deeply concerned. Midterm season was in full swing and Ahri’s office is covered in post-its.

“Hey, Ahr – shit…YO you look FUCKED up. Did you not sleep?” Akali knocks at the threshold of Ahri’s office, orange juice and some pretzels from a vending machine in hand. She catapults onto the couch and holds the snacks up expectantly. Fox ears swivel in her direction, but their owner doesn’t follow.

Ahri was going to get that tenured position. No one can stop her. She needed to finish her research, needed the world to see her work…well, her life, if she was being honest. Citations can get a little muddy if you were _actually_ alive to see world events unfold. The people she’s met, the lives and languages that they had lived – they were important. _ARE_ important…

…Hmm this student isn’t really getting the difference between a phoneme and a morpheme…oh. That’s the sixth student to miss the question about fricatives. _Can’t blame them, human ears can’t really pick it up that well_ **.** A rustle. _I wonder if there’s a way to show them…or is it too much? It is an entry-level course after all…_

The rustle turns into frantic crinkling and Ahri is just about to launch her pen in the direction of the noise when she notices the pretzels. She squints.

“Aren’t you the Director of Campus Rec? What, they ran out of healthy options?” Ahri relaxes a little at the sight of Akali grinning as she opens the bag of pretzels and fists a few into her mouth.

“A glass house Ahri,” she says around the mouthful, “You’re living in a glass house there, I’d watch it.” Akali throws a pretzel in her direction and Ahri makes a show of catching it.

Maybe so. “Alright, give me that. I need the sugar anyway.”

Instant regret – coffee and OJ were not meant to inhabit the same body at once.

“Speaking of Campus Rec…have you forgotten what the word ‘recreation’ means?” Akali smirks, eyes landing on the beat-up chair and her currently flattening ass.

That little shit.

* * *

The memory of the day Ahri met Akali still manages to embarrass her. It wasn’t entirely her fault, she’d like to reason. Three years ago, she was a fresh hire – and the university’s hottest addition at that. Being hot offered her significant boons – a nearly full lecture hall each time she took the podium, glowing student evals, and the lovely spotlight of the board. Ahri had felt her goal get a little closer every time she saw her class roster fill up. Never mind that it was just a survey class and had absolutely nothing to do with her research. Grin and bear it.

(Ahri will forever hold it over Eve that she, at one point, had more chillis on RateMyProfessor than her. Ahri was simply biding her time until she stole that title again).

Akali, despite already being a director, took up a position as an extra student advisor. “Have to get closer to the kids that were gonna use the facilities somehow,” was her reason. When she had gotten wind of an extremely popular class, it was a no-brainer for her to hop in on a lecture. After all, there was no better way to advise students about classes than to actually experience what was being offered. Hands-on was the best approach she thought, and hands-on she was. It was going to be quite the year, she could already tell. She wasn’t about to be swamped with students asking her about “that one linguistics class – yeah the one everyone says is the best thing to take” and whether or not she could squeeze them into it. At least, not without knowing who she was dealing with.

The reason the class was popular was hard to miss – even if that reason was literally, short. The blonde gumiho that walked up to the podium commanded attention. She was hot – Akali wasn’t blind. But when she opened her mouth, learning had never felt so natural. She actually stayed for the whole damn thing. But what really got her was when she went down to congratulate the new adjunct.

“Oh! Haven’t seen you around before. Have you caught up on the class materials?”

Huh. There were at least a hundred kids in that hall, but this woman still knew when a new face joined the crowd. _She cared._ Akali thought.

“I do have to warn you though, even if you did transfer just now, this class is a lot of work. I’ll be expecting the prereq I assigned on my desk with your name on it by next week. Try to keep up! It’ll be worth it.”

Akali hadn’t really known what to do right then. Her baby face had betrayed her once again. Shit.

“Uh.”

“Something wrong?”

Akali flashed her faculty ID real quick.

Ahri denies it every time, but Akali will never forget the squeak and the full-body flush that followed that.

* * *

After that, Akali pretty much stuck to Ahri like glue. It was very simple, to Akali. She was short, so was Ahri. Ahri had a baby face and so did she (though that was more to do with Ahri’s gumiho heritage; “foxy grandma” was a highly-debated nickname). More importantly, Ahri cared about the people around her in the same way Akali did. Again, big denial on Ahri’s part. But the fancy, pissed-off professor persona that she put up was downright see-through whenever Ahri saw one of her students struggling. Akali once saw her wordlessly slide a cup of coffee near a student napping amongst the stacks, presumably having been brought there by Ahri to get help with research. Akali had given her a thumbs up, was rewarded with an annoyed huff, and turned around, saving the chat for later. “Grandma tendencies” was added to her list of things to poke Ahri with. Not her fault she also started dressing like one.

There were some…inclinations in the beginning, of course. Who wouldn’t find a woman so driven, so passionate about her work compelling – and to put it simply, extremely attractive. But…that was it. Passionate about work, Akali could see that. “If tunnel vision had a poster girl,” she’d said once, after seeing Ahri mercilessly hold back a line at the local coffee shop for _ten minutes_ and then not even think about apologizing. Just flipped to another page in her book. Incredible. Ahri was simply incredible. And Akali, for her part, was entirely content just making sure she didn’t find her friend dead in a ditch somewhere because she simply forgot about going home - in favor of research.

It was another late night in Ahri’s office, the both of them a little bit off their rockers. It happened every time, but the two of them never quite got used to just how quickly the semester snowballed to a close. Finals sucked – but what most students didn’t quite understand was that it sucked, for _everyone_ involved. Ahri had all the prep and the grading to do and Akali had all of the distressed students to comfort. And so, they were left to comfort themselves.

“Hey, when we met, did you think I’d have made a good student?” Akali misses the paper ball she was tossing and it falls on her face. The scratch of a pen stops momentarily.

“Nope.”

“Aw come on, humor me.”

“I am. I just saw you miss a toss at point-blank range. How good are your eyes?”

“20/20, wh – wait don’t tell me this is some elaborate setup for a joke about hindsight?” Ahri’s eyes crinkle but she says nothing. Booooo. Akali tosses the ball at her.

Dodging, Ahri full-on laughs. “You should’ve **_seen_ ** it coming.”

Goddamnit she still got a joke out. Akali moves to retaliate with a second paper ball when she notices that Ahri’s stopped laughing and her eyes are unfocused. She falls quiet and gently makes her way to the desk, pulling out the stack of post-its she constantly keeps in her back pocket. She waits until Ahri comes to and hands her a pen. There’s a grateful smile and the pen is all that could be heard in the office for a few moments.

“Sor –“

“Have you seen this new game?” Akali cuts her off, swiping on her phone and shoving it in front of Ahri’s face.

“Legends of Runeterra.” A pause. “ANOTHER ONE? Don’t they know it’s not a _LEGEND_?” Ahri huffs and quickly takes the phone out of Akali’s hands. “I’m still ALIVE you know! Thank. You. Very. Much!”

Ahri clicks through everything, absorbing as much as she can.

“Look it’s bad enough people don’t…” Ahri gets lost in criticizing the designs on the cards for a moment, “OK, LOOK. Look. **_LISTEN_**. I can tell you right now _I_ wouldn’t have worn that. That particular tribe was in no way in contact with that one, they were – …” There’s a couple of more minutes of angry gesturing until Akali manages to convince her to try a round.

The next few hours are quiet, save for the taps on her phone and the occasional, small “Yes.”

Akali thinks her work is done as she dozes on the couch, only to be jostled awake by a very proud Ahri. Her bleary eyes take a moment to focus on the screen but _oh my god_ ** _._ **

Leave it to Ahri to immediately figure out how to make a meat-stacking deck*. That poor, poor AI…Akali rubs at her eyes and just grins.

Incredible. Ahri was incredible.

* * *

Well. Ahri was also incredibly _stupid_ at times. The day she met Evelynn was one of them. Alone in a dark hallway, Akali punches in the combo for yet another bag of cheap vending machine snacks for a certain grumpy grandma. She takes a moment to recall _that_ particular shitshow three years ago. Akali remembers being torn between laughing until she cried and running far, far away from Ahri’s too-cramped office.

* * *

“Evelynn, this is Akali!” Ahri beamed. “She’s a girlfriend – …Uh…Girl. That’s also a friend.”

The grave only got deeper with every word.

The woman in question, Evelynn, was practically bristling. The _real_ girlfriend, Akali figured. _And_ she was a demon. Akali half wondered if she was going to die today.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” _Fake, but ok._

“Same with you,” and Akali goes for the handshake. More like clawshake – _ow_ . Evelynn’s pupils were narrow slits, eyes a dangerous gold. _Okay!!! I get it!!! Ahri is YOURS!!!_ **_Pleasedon’tkillmethePowerofChristcompelsyou_ ** _!!!_

Fuck. Wait. Oh no. _Demons can sense lust._ A glance at Evelynn confirms her suspicions. Even Ahri could now pick up on the aggressive possessiveness that was roiling off the woman. Never had Akali regretted being a simp more than that moment. _Buddha, Jesus, Gandhi PLEASE…(ok maybe not Gandhi, the fucking prick)._

Frantically, Akali’s eyes dart all over the small office trying to piece it all together. How did she not NOTICE this. That was her one thing – and part of her job! Tucked away, there’s a pair of black stilettos that she’d never seen Ahri even look at. A black leather jacket hung up in the corner that was _definitely_ not a part of Ahri’s granny wardrobe. Hell, there was a tea set that they never used because Ahri was 76% coffee. Fuck. It was all there.

Wait.

Akali dared to look at Evelynn once more and did her best not to shrivel up under the woman’s pointed gaze. A hint of confusion. Her eyes move to Ahri. Guilt.

_No…Oh my fucking god?_

“Ahri, you didn’t tell me you had a new… _friend_.” That wasn’t a question. Akali could practically feel Evelynn’s voice cut into her. It’s about to get ugly real quick.

“If it helps, Ahri _never told me about you either,_ ” Akali says, voice barely level as she casts a pleading glance at Ahri, who shrinks back a little. Yeah. That was guilt. Incredible.

“Hmm.” There was a flash of annoyance on Evelynn’s face. _ABORT, BAD SENTENCE, ABORT_ , _A_ –

“Hey Doc!” A friendly voice chimes in from behind all of them. “Woah, full house!”

A blessing from above. _Buddha, Jesus – I owe you one._ Seraphine casually slides herself in between the three women, effectively dulling Evelynn’s glare. Pink waves made their way across the room, depositing a stack of papers and what looked like an actually healthy lunch on Ahri’s desk. Evelynn’s eyes had softened almost immediately, leaving Akali with whiplash.

“Thank you, dear. Nice to see that _someone_ is taking care of _my_ Ahri.” There it was again. The claws were back out.

“Of course! ‘Sera, you shouldn’t be living off of fumes,’ if I remember correctly,” Seraphine teased, “Just practicing what’s been preached.” At that, Ahri’s tail puffs up and she pouts.

Seraphine makes a graceful exit, leaving Akali to once again, start praying to whoever’s out there.

Then a shift happens. Akali senses it first – _shit it’s the stress_.

Akali reaches for her post-its the same time Evelynn fishes for a pen in her bag.

One look, and it was the official start of the Ahri Protection Program™.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *A meat-stacking deck, in case you don’t play Legends of Runeterra, is when you create a deck that buffs units until they have incredibly high health and attack stats. Then you completely obliterate the enemy. Terrifying.
> 
> Thank you for reading! Feel free to comment :)
> 
> I post art and updates about this AU on Twitter @ CYMK_8. Until next time!


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